THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROBLEM

We have become a nation of cowards and shills who quake like jello over the least little thing. We conservatives like to was poetic over how stupid the Hope and Change voter is, but trust me, we’re no different.

Take immigration.

The average “conservative” has fallen for the racist dribble promoted by John Tanton and a bunch of small minded neo-facists who are using concerns of national security to mask their extreme enviromental agenda. It is an agenda of complete population control via forced abortion and eugenics. The anti-immigrations organizations like Numbers USA, FAIR and the Center for Immigration Studies who are promoting “national security” are nothing but fronts for the extreme abortion agenda.

And – conservatives are falling for it.

The great border fence is one of the most reprehensible things ever under-taken by this nation. It is separating cultures, families, and cities. It has become the “conservative” version of the Berlin Wall. It is an ecological disaster waiting to happen.

Now it is an archaeological disaster.

NOW I’M MAD – REALLY MAD

Along the San Pedro a major archaeological discovery was made. Because of the Border Fence, it has now been buried, and the extent of the discovery will not be known unless more rational heads prevail. Immigration reform hard-liners have become the modern version of Luddites, witch-hunters, and the Inquisition all rolled into one.

“…There was an interesting artifact found at the site that Hopkins had not seen before. She calls it a “stone jaw bone.” It has a serrated edge, and she firmly believes it was used for scraping animal hides. Several of these implements were found at the site, which also yielded “more deer bone than I’ve ever seen in my life,” she said.

Westland was contracted to do archaeological work for the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers and the U.S. Department Homeland Security so the agencies could comply with federal archaeological laws. In October 2007, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff pushed ahead with the fence, winning federal court approval of his waiving of environmental restrictions.

“It is a sensitive subject,” Hopkins said of the border politics.

She told the Tubac archaeology society how complicated her work was because of the numerous government and private agencies involved. Those included ranchers on the U.S. and Mexican sides, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and the Arizona National Guard, just to name a few.

She described how one time “the No. 2 guy” from Homeland Security flew to the San Pedro River archaeological site in a Black Hawk helicopter and asked the scientists, “Are you OK?”

At that moment, some of the nearby Mexican ranchers were delivering a plateful of delicious tacos, which the archaeologists had become accustomed to. The Homeland Security official asked, “Are they bugging you?” The archaeologists answered, “No.”

Hopkins did say there was genuine concern for archaeologists’ safety when they were working in the notoriously-violent smuggling corridor of Altar Valley.

But, overall, the archaeologists had to deal with multiple jurisdictions and a lot of curious people. “We just had people around us all the time,” she said.

Mexican archaeologists were among the interested parties, and their American counterparts are collaborating with them as always, Hopkins said.

One restriction posed by the U.S. government was that the archaeologists could only dig 5 feet deep, because that was as far as they were digging for the fence’s footers. Below that depth, “The archaeology, I guarantee, keeps going,” Hopkins said.

On another axis, the archaeologists were allowed to dig to a limit of 60 feet wide. That dimension related to President Theodore Roosevelt’s 60-foot-wide easement running the length of the U.S.-Mexico border from California to Texas. The “Roosevelt Reservation” was created “for the purpose of homeland security,” Hopkins said.

This “stripping” method of archaeology, done mainly by backhoe, ultimately extended for three-tenths of a mile and excavated 7,500 tons of soil from three-fourths of an acre.

The site has been reburied. Hopkins has not been back there for many months.

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5 thoughts on “Why The Border Fence Is a Crock, Part What-ever”

Fence trumps ivory towerites once. BSD. Ought to use academicians IN the footings for the fence. (I have enough degrees from acredited institutions to know that burying 90% of college/university professors would result in a net benefit to society. And yeh, one of my fav profs–one of the few worth not burying, although his family’s managed that well enough in the ensuing decades–was an active, extensively published archaeologist. But he wasn’t a whiner, so he just worked around the ocassional war and whatnot… knowing full well that “unique sites” are notsomuch, usually. Unique, that is.)

Still, I’m not a big fan of “the fence” preferring machine gun bunkers and sniper nests with overlapping fields of fire, accompanied by the rotting corpses of those who think our border is a welcome mat to illegal crossings. (I would also prefer expedited legal entry for folks who wait in line to enter legally.) But absent my preferred method of averting illegal entry, a fence will just have to do, and picayune archaeologial arcana be damned.

SJ Reidhead (aka The Pink Flamingo) is a writer based in New Mexico. The author of two published novels, both westerns: Dust Devil and The Second Mrs. Earp and two published works of non-fictions: TRAVESTY: Frank Waters Earp Agenda Exposed and A Church for Helldorado, Endicott Peabody's 1882 Tombstone Diary. One of the leading authorities on the life of Wyatt Earp and Tombstone during the Earp years, she is currently writing a series of murder mysteries set in modern day Tombstone. The author is also working on a book about fashion in the Wild West. When complete, there will be over 2100 unpublished antique photographs dating from 1855-1910.

The author's work has appeared in Wild West, True West, Blogcritics, and The Tombstone Times. Recently the author has had to deal with a father who succumbed to Alzheimer's Disease. This is leading to a book dealing with the frustrations of dealing with the frustrations of the disease, finance, legal, health-care, and things no one bothers telling families about it. She is currently working on a murder mystery series set in modern day Tombstone and Cochise County. Several books of essays on Christian living are currently in edits. A book of essays and revisions of articles about Wyatt Earp has been completed and will include her latest work detailing her theory about the murder of his second wife, Mattie.

SJ Reidhead has been involved in Republican politics since she was 'a little kid'. During the Reagan years she was a lobbyist working with various non-profit organizations who were attempting to salvage NASA and the American space program after the disastrous Carter years. In spite of ups and downs, and numerous disappointments, politically, it is obvious the only political hope for this country is via the Republican Party. Along with politics she is an opera fanatic, has been known to stalk baritones to the point of being a baritone junkie, and loves baseball.

The Pink Flamingo went on line on October 4, 2005.

THE PINK FLAMINGO STORY

It started out as a joke. During the seven years I worked with the girls of my parish, leading a youth group, one of the things that I stressed were manners. Part of having manners, the way I see it, is to know how to set a proper table, host a party, cater it, and clean up afterward. I was fortunate enough to have a group of very talented girls in my youth group. They learned how to plan for, and execute large church functions, very properly. During one such function I noticed there were several incredibly tacky pink flamingos sitting on the table. Knowing the girls were up to something, I said nothing. A few months later they did the same thing at a function I was hosting at my home. I said nothing. They had a birthday party for me. More pink flamingos appeared - and a joke was born.

Thanks to the girls, all of whom are now grown, I have a collection of pink flamingos. It has become an ongoing joke. When I began working on my political blog, I realized the only possibly title was The Pink Flamingo!